The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-03-03
WHAT SAILORS EAT.
A Diet Made Up Largely OF "Snlt
Horse"-The Luxury of n FRESH
Fish Dinner.

y
of q 'lfe on the ocean wave" would
like TO know how they Jared aboard
ship. There is no mothers pantry TO
visit. Each sailor furnishes his own
tin plate, coilee-cup, and knife and
fork, He has no table, with chairs
placed for his convenience. When
GRUB" is ready to be served the cook
gives the signal. A sailor comes and
receives pan of bread; another takes
pan of beef. the third takes the large
coffee-pot. with hash or potatoes as the
cook chooses. The bill of fare is fixed
by law. AT the beginning of the voy-
age the captain calls his crew aft and
inquiries if there are any who wish to
have their food weighed. They always
prefer to eat as much as they can
stow away"
The sailors eat in the forecastle. Ii
they are disposed, they can rig them
selves table; otherwise they must sit
around on trunks or the deck in rough
weather. and take their rations. The
officers eat with the captain in the cab
in, where a table is set and furnished AS
at home. A rack is used in rough
weather to keep the dishes from dane
ing. If there is n good cook on board
everything goes well, but an unskilled
cook makes all hands miserable.
During rough weather passengers do
not attempt TO sit at the table, but take
whatever they require in their hands
and cat the best way they can. One
day sailor was eating his rations dur
ing rough weather, when the ship gave
lurch and piece of beef went gal
Looping across the deck. The sailor
raised his fork. and making a dash at
the beef shouted: stop that horse.
The sailors called their beef 'salt
horse" The story which they tell is
this: Zone voyage, when the beef was
particularly tough, horseshoe was
found in the bottom of the beef barrel
whereupon one of the sailors got up the
following rhyme;
"Old horse, old horse, what brought you herel
"From Saccarap to Portland pier,
was dragging lumber for many year,
was kicked and cuffed with sore abuse
And sailed down for Sailors use;
Between the mainmast and the pumps
/ was sailed down In great big chunks;
They hauled Inc out and picked my bones,
Then shove me over TO Davy Jones'"
The captain of a sailing ship was ask
ed by his wife if she couldn't give the
sailors good dinner. He replied that
he was afraid it would make them
saucy. She finally prevailed. A fine
turkey was procured from shore and
given to the cook, who served it up in
good order and gave it to the sa Tors.
One gave scrutnizng look and ex'
claimed: what is this old bird doing
herep' Another said: II wonder how
old it is? Must have died of old age.
The third remarked that if it had been
good for anything they would have
kept il in the cabin. They finally hove
it overheard and made dinner of "salt
horse" The captains wife, after that
never meddled with her husbands
housekeeping.
Sometimes a dolphin is caught, ana,
as you watch the diving colors of blue
and gold, as he writhes upon the deck.
visions of savory chowder and fresh
fried fish pass before YOU.
With what an important air the cook
comes into the cabin and asks for Il
piece of silver, which he puts into the
frying-pan with the suffering fish. If
the silver turns black he cons ders the
sfish to have been poisoned. He says
they sometimes eat copper from the
bottom of Il shin or from copper banks.
How anxiously we await the test those
on shore, whose thoughts are filed with
politics, the temperance question and di-
vorce cases can never know. The silver
is usually found to be bright and shining
and the luxury of fresh-ish dinner is
enjoyed with unadulterated happiness.
Often porpoise is harpooned, and
then there is great excitement. The
liver and heart taste similar to those OF
q hog, but one must be exceedingly
hungry to enjoy the meat 1t has one
virtue-that of being fresh. The oil is
usually saved, being quite valuable.
That found i'm the head is much esteem
ed for oiing clocks, etc When Span
ish mackerel is caught savory dinner
may be expected.
Sometimes thousands of flying fish
dart from the water on all sides OF the
ship, and. spreading their gauze wings,
fly for few SECONDS above the water,
while we are tempted to exclaim:
Fish, FISH all around
And not one mouthful TO eat
For. although they are most delicate
eating. it is impossible to catch them at
sea Often during the night one flies
on board. On the island of Bar5adoes
the fishermen are very successful in
catching these fish. and meal of boned
flying fish, is worth eating.